Islam in the Republic of Macedonia

Flag of the Islamic Religious Community of Macedonia
Map of the muftiships of Macedonia.

Muslims in the Republic of Macedonia represent one-third of the nation's total population,[1][2] making Islam the second most widely professed religion in the country. Muslims in the Republic of Macedonia follow Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab. Some northwestern and western regions of the country have Muslim majorities. A large majority of all the Muslims in the country are ethnic Albanians, with the rest being primarily Turks, Romani, Bosniaks or Torbeš.

Population

Ethnicity

The Šarena Džamija, built in 1438, is a mosque in Tetovo.

Albanian Muslims, forming roughly 25% of the nation's total population and most of the Muslim population, live mostly in the Polog and western regions of the country. The Turks, who make up about 4% of the country's total population, are scattered throughout the country, but mostly in major cities, as are Roma Muslims. Bosniaks are mostly concentrated within Skopje. Muslims of Macedonian ethnicity number roughly 40,000 to 100,000 and can be found in western Macedonia in the Centar Župa, Debar, Struga and Plasnica areas.[3]

Rank Ethnic group Population
1 Albanians 509,083
2 Turks 77,959
3 Roma 53,879
4 Macedonian (e.g. Torbeš, Gorani) 40,000-100,000
5 Bosniaks 17,018

Historical population

The following table shows the Muslim population and percentage for each given year. The Muslim percentage in Macedonia generally decreased from 1904 to 1961 but began to rise again, reaching 33.33% in 2002. The Muslim population is projected to continue growing, comprising an estimated 40.3% of the Macedonian population by 2030.[4]

Year Muslim population Muslim percentage
1904 634,000 36.76%
1912 384,000 33.47%
1921 269,000 31.43%
1948 314,603 27.29%
1953 388,515 29.78%
1961 338,200 24.05%
1971 414,176 25.14%
1981 546,437 28.62%
1991 611,326 30.06%
1994 581,203 30.04%
2002 674,015 33.33%

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.stat.gov.mk/publikacii/knigaX.pdf
  2. ↑ BBC - Macedonia
  3. ↑ Nielsen, Akgonul & Alibasic 2009, 221.
  4. ↑ The Future of the Global Muslim Population, The Pew Forum
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